Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 begins with the G-Man taking Freeman out of stasis and inserting him into a train on his way to City 17, somewhere in Eastern Europe, about twenty years after the Black Mesa Incident. Dr. Gordon Freeman, who hasn't aged a day since he disappeared after the Black Mesa Incident because he was in stasis, appears on a train heading to City 17. On the train, a couple of citizens talk about city life and the process of being transferred to City 17. Arriving there, Gordon meets armed police officers known as Civil Protection, and is greeted by the image of Dr. Wallace Breen, former administrator of Black Mesa, who is broadcasting Breencast on a large screen, welcoming the new citizens to City 17. Gordon is ordered away from the rest of the citizens, into a small interrogation room, in which he meets former Black Mesa security guard Barney Calhoun, who is now undercover as a Civil Protection officer. He contacts Dr. Isaac Kleiner, who greets Gordon warmly. After a bit of discussion they decide to send Gordon over to Kleiner's Lab, though he must find his own way there as Barney cannot abandon his post without raising Civil Protection's suspicions. Along the way, Gordon finds himself right in the middle of a CP raid on a tenement house, barely escaping with his life, and being rescued from certain death by a young woman named Alyx Vance. After a failed attempt to send Gordon to Black Mest East via teleporter, Gordon is forced to escape City 17 through the old canals, with Civil Protection officers in hot pursuit. Before this, though, Barney rearms his friend with an old favorite weapon: the crowbar. Gordon acquires his first firearm, experiences a lot of combat with Civil Protection forces and encounters alien enemies such as Barnacles, Zombies during the end and Headcrabs for the first time. Aboard an airboat, he fights off numerous Civil Protection units and a Hunter Chopper. Freeman reaches his destination, Black Mesa East, after a series of chases through the canals. Gordon meets Dr. Judith Mossman for the first time, and is reunited with Eli Vance and Alyx. Gordon is also introduced to the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator, also known as the 'Gravity Gun', a physics manipulator that quickly becomes indispensable, and after that, Gordon meets DOG, Alyx's robotic "pet." Like "A Red Letter Day," this chapter is full of insight and dialogue about the current state of the world, the people in it, and the aftermath of the Black Mesa Incident. While Gordon is playing with DOG in the scrapyard, Alyx spots Combine Scanners sweeping the area, shortly before an all out aerial raid on Black Mesa East. While attempting to rejoin the others, Gordon and Dog are separated from Alyx by a collapsed ceiling, and Gordon is forced to escape down a tunnel to Ravenholm, a place that Alyx didn't want to talk about earlier, showing obvious discomfort at the thought. Gordon Freeman goes through the ghost town of Ravenholm. Originally a hidden village that lived free from the rule of the Combine, it was discovered and attacked by hundreds of Headcrab Shells, transforming almost the entire population into deadly Zombies. This chapter also introduces two new headcrab variants - the Poison Headcrab and the Fast Headcrab - and their zombie counterparts. Freeman kills zombies and avoids bizarre deathtraps, meeting the man who set them, Father Grigori, who gives Gordon a Combine SPAS-12. Freeman and Grigori make their way to an old mine which has a path that leads back to City 17, but Grigori stays behind to fight zombies, and he continues to do so until the crypt behind him bursts open, leaving more zombies to come out from it. He continues to shoot the zombies for a while until he runs through a blazing fire into the crypt. Freeman is informed that Eli Vance has been taken to Nova Prospekt and sets out on a journey along Highway 17 to rescue him. The player encounters Combine Soldiers for the first time as well as a new type of Xen alien, the Antlions. Colonel Odessa Cubbage is also met in this level, giving Gordon the Resistance RPG. After exiting a zombie infested tunnel then crossing through the last part of the coast without the Scout Car, he encounters the first Antlion Guard of the game and is trained in usage of the Antlion Guard's pheropods. He then continues to the final part of the coast, where he battles many Nova Prospekt guards on his way into the prison. In this level, Antlions become the player's allies because Gordon has the Bugbait Gordon Freeman attacks Nova Prospekt, a Combine base, and a former prison, and breaches its defenses with the help of an army of Antlions, with the goal of finding and rescuing the captured Resistance leader, Eli Vance. This is also the last chapter where Antlions are encountered, because the player soon leaves Antlion Territory. Gordon meets up with Alyx Vance in the Nova Prospekt train depot. They discover that Dr. Mossman was actually a Combine spy working on Breen's side. Together, they search the Nova Prospekt for Eli Vance and Judith Mossman, all the while fighting off security forces. They split up several times, but finally they reunite to track down Mossman. She teleports herself and Eli out of the facility, getting to the Citadel, forcing Alyx and Gordon to take the risk in using the same teleporter to get back to Kleiner's lab. Upon arriving in Kleiner's Lab after teleporting away from the Depot, Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance discover they have been stuck in a teleport "loop" for a week's time. They find that the teleport caused the destruction of Nova Prospekt, and the blow they struck there was taken as a sign to begin The Uprising. The two factions have been locked in combat for a week and all of City 17 is a warzone. Freeman goes on to aid in the battle, while Alyx remains in Kleiner's Lab to help him escape the city. The player is able to form small squads of citizens to help as they fight their way through the city towards Barney's location. Near the end of the chapter, Alyx returns to help Gordon but is captured by Combine soldiers and taken to the Citadel. Gordon Freeman teams up with Barney and together they lead a battle at the Overwatch Nexus, finally fighting at the foot of the Citadel. This section involves heavy urban combat, aided by resistance members, against Striders, Gunships, and elite Combine Soldiers. Gordon Freeman infiltrates the Combine Citadel. There is a climactic confrontation between Wallace Breen, Gordon Freeman and the leaders of the Resistance. Mossman eventually regrets that she helped Breen, and releases Freeman, Alyx, and Eli. Breen attempts to go to the Dark Energy Reactor at the very top of the Citadel where a portal to the Combine Overworld is opened for him. In the end, Gordon causes the reactor to fail and begin to go critical. Just as the reactor explodes, probably killing Breen and nearly ready to kill Alyx and Gordon, the G-Man freezes time and addresses Gordon. He is put back into stasis by the G-Man. The fate of Breen and Alyx is unknown at the ending of this game, but Alyx's fate is revealed in the sequel. In the sequel, Alyx states that she "saw Breen fall", implying his death. However, Breen's fate still remains unrevealed. Category:Half-Life Category:Video Game Category:Science Fiction